Nightmare: Black Dragon (Reboot)
by NightmareDC13
Summary: When a Gotham teenager gains vampiric abilities, he unintentionally comes to blows with a faction of vampire hunters along with the protector of Gotham himself.


Chapter 1: Black Dragon

Welcome to Gotham City, the home of one of the most crime ridden cities in America. Located in northern New Jersey, there is still lots to do if you aren't getting robbed or murdered. You can visit the Iceberg Lounge run by notorious gangster and arms dealer Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin. You can take a tour of Wayne Enterprises, the country's leader in advanced technology including the manufacturing of fast cars, jets, even tanks. But one of the biggest reasons people come to the city after 7 years is because of a local celebrity that has been cleaning up the streets. A dark, brooding, caped crusader. Some people call him "The Dark Knight", but most people just call him Batman. But our story isn't about the Batman. Our story isn't about a man whose parents were killed in an alleyway, we aren't talking about a kid that came from the city's elite, we aren't even talking about a kid who is physically intimidating. We're talking about a kid that came from Gotham's underground. Things are about to change for him, his life won't be the same again.

Taylor Hayes is a 16 year old sophomore at Gotham High school. He has long black hair with blue eyes and light skin. He isn't a very big kid standing at 5'7 and weighing only 180 pounds. He is constantly bullied for his stature, primarily by Beau and Luke, two country boys that moved to Gotham, and are members of the football team. Beau and Luke grab Taylor and drag him to a swimming pool at some apartment buildings. They submerge his head into the pool and pull him up gasping for air.

"You're such a little bitch Taylor! Come on, you thirsty?" says Beau laughing.

"You assholes gonna kill me or what?" shouts Taylor.

"Hear that Beau? He likes it!" says Luke.

"I'm gonna give this punk a knuckle sandwich!" says Beau.

Luke pulls Taylor out of the water and punches him in the face. Taylor spits out blood. Beau grabs Taylor's arms while Luke unloads and keeps punching him in the face and gut.

"Had enough yet you little pussy?" says Luke.

Taylor smiles and spits blood on Luke's face. Luke wipes the blood off his face, Taylor laughs. Luke mockingly laughs back and punches Taylor in the face, knocking him out and laying in his own blood.  
"You want to go to the arcade?" asks Beau.

"Is it still open?" asks Luke

"Hell yeah!"

"Let's go then! But first we need to get some smokes."

Beau and Luke walk off laughing like idiots. Taylor had secretly training in mixed martial arts from his father. To him, his father was Jedediah Hayes. But to the GCPD, he was an assassin named Hornet. However, Taylor held back because he wanted Beau and Luke to feel like they were in control, as Taylor had only been training for two weeks. Taylor woke up a few minutes later and stumbled around before regaining his composure. He searched his pockets to make sure that Beau and Luke hadn't stolen some joints that he had in his pockets. Taylor walked to his favorite spot to smoke, the Gotham city cemetery. It was late, about 9 o'clock so nobody would be there. He reached the cemetery sat on top of Thomas and Martha Wayne's mausoleum. He decided to smoke marijuana as a sort of way to escape from reality. The reality that he didn't really have anybody aside from his sister and their friend Lonnie Machin, along with the fact that his father was a criminal. That and he was in physical pain from the attack. He exhales smoke.

"Show me mercy from the powers that be." He says. It sometimes felt like that green gold was his only friend in a city so evil. He felt a presence nearby. The flames from candles left on memorial day a few days before were extinguished by a sudden gust of wind.

"Come on man! Can I just have it easy for one goddamn night?"

He saw shadows darting around the headstones.

"Stop playing games with me man, it's not funny! I'm high as fuck which makes it worse!"

He feels a presence behind him. It's dark, but it doesn't feel inherently evil. He turns around and sees a tall man wearing some kind of black and red 15th century Romanian armor with pauldrons and a red cape. Taylor freezes in his place and drops his joint. The man has long black hair, sunken eyes, a beard, and a snow white complexion. He lunges forward and scratches Taylor across his right eye. Taylor falls off the top of the mausoleum bleeding from the eyebrow to the cheek. The assailant missed his eye so he could still see, but his vision in his right eye was obscured by the blood in his eye. He gets up dizzy and wobbling back and forth. He walks into a road nearby. He turns around and is blinded by headlights. The last thing he hears is a horn honking before he is hit. He wakes up in the hospital with several nurses rushing him to the emergency room.  
"He's bleeding out, it looks to be an animal attack. And he was also hit by a car."

He feels his face and feels a bandage around his face. It was soaked in blood as if he never stopped bleeding. He passes out again.

"We're losing him!" says one of the nurses.

Taylor wakes up and sees all the nurses sighing a sigh of relief.

"You were legally dead for 20 minutes." says the doctor.

"Well, I guess the good thing is that I'm here."

The nurse leaned over to the doctor and whispers something in his ear.

"We need to get a priest here stat, I haven't seen anything like it."

"Remember that brit that was here the other day? The guy in the trench coat?" the doctor replies.

"Get him on the line."

A few minutes later, a man pulls up in his car and steps out. He's wearing black pants with a white shirt, a red tie, and a tan trench coat. His features include blonde hair and stubble. He looks up and notices a "No Smoking" sign.

"Blimey." he says as he lights up a cigarette anyway.

He steps out of his car with a briefcase. He walks into the hospital and gets into the elevator. Before too long he reaches Taylor's room. As he enters the room, Taylor can smell cigarette smoke on him.

"Hello doctor. My name is John Constantine. I've come here to handle your… situation."

He looks at Taylor.

"What might your name be lad?"

"Taylor, Taylor Hayes."

John opens up his briefcase and pulls out a crucifix, he points it at Taylor who flinches a little bit. Taylor jumps out of bed and attacks Constantine. The doctors try to restrain him, but he throws them off. He jumps out the 4 story window as Constantine and the doctors watch him plummet to the parking lot. Taylor lands on his feet and keeps running. He runs in front of a store window and stops. He looks into the window and removes his bandages. He sees that he has three scars running down his right eye from his eyebrow to his cheek. His eyes are sunken and piercing blue, an enhancement of his original color. He smiles and sees two fangs where his canines were. His skin was lighter than it usually was, as Taylor wasn't tan at all but far from being pale. But now his skin was as white as snow, or the paper he would write on at school. Just as soon as he smiles, his reflection disappears. He hears somebody screaming on an alley so he climbs up a fire escape to scope out the situation. He looks into the alley and sees a girl and her brother from his school being attacked by Beau and Luke, Harper and Cullen Row. Taylor jumps into the alley and looks at Beau and Luke cocking his head sideways. Luke pulls out a switchblade and stabs Taylor. Taylor looks up at Luke and punches him, sending him flying down the alley. Beau hits Taylor in the back of the head with a baseball bat. Taylor slowly turns around and grabs him by the arm, striking him in the elbow and shattering it. He punches Beau in the ribs, breaking 4 of them. He then knocks him down and breaks his leg, causing a compound fracture.

"You see your friend here? You want to be like him?" Taylor says, punching Beau in the face and breaking his nose, causing it to bleed immediately.

Luke looks up and charges towards Taylor. Taylor does a flip over Luke and strikes him in the back of the leg. Taylor punches Luke in the head repeatedly, his dark skin being soaked in blood. He breaks Luke's arm and grabs his head.

"I want to make an example out of you. You hurt anybody again, and I will hurt the two of you worse than I did tonight." He says as he knees Luke in the back of the head, knocking him out and breaking his nose as his face hits the pavement. Taylor turns and looks at Harper and Cullen. He sees the fear on their faces as they run away. Taylor leaves Beau and Luke in a puddle of blood. They are alive, but they are bloody and crippled.

A dark figure looms over the alley, Beau and Luke are loaded into ambulances. Police Commissioner Gordon stands in the alley. He looks up and nods.

"Everybody, go on break. We'll pick back up in 15 minutes." Gordon says.

The dark figure drops down into the alley. He's dressed head to toe in dark grey armor with a black bat insignia on his chest. He wears a black cape and cowl with pointed bat ears. Next to him drops down another, more brightly colored individual. He has red armor with black accents, with a yellow cape, green gloves, green boots, and a black domino mask, with a black logo with a yellow "R" in the middle.

"What happened here?" the Dark Knight asks.

"Looks like an attack. Our witness says that somebody in a bloody hospital gown jumped down from the alley and brutally attacked them. They'll live, but they will probably have problems with their grip the rest of their lives."

"Where there any features that would stand out in identifying the perpetrator?"

"The witness says that he was about 5'7 to 5'8 and had three facial scars resembling claw marks across the right eye area. He also had very bright blue eyes, caucasian with long black hair. Essentially they got a really good look at him."

"Thanks Jim. Alfred, run a search through every hospital database in Gotham. We need a white male with long black hair and facial scarring." the Dark Knight says.

Taylor walks down the street back to his house. As he walks he can feel a presence, he is unaware that he is being watched by a girl that's just like him. She has mid length blonde hair and black leather armor. She has light blue eyes with a snow white complexion and sunken eyes. She has spider bite piercings in her bottom lip with black lipstick black eyeshadow and two fangs where her canines would be. Her name is Adeline Dumont. She smiles before turning and running, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She eventually reaches Gotham Cathedral. She climbs through a broken stained glass window where a figure stands before her.

"Why him father? He's a skilled combatant, but it seems that all he wants is to hurt others." The girl says.

"Maybe now, but in time he will learn to use his abilities to repel the true darkness that will plague this city. They will retreat into the shadows not knowing that he is waiting for them there. He will be their greatest nightmare, Adeline."

"How are we going to get him to join us?"

"We wait for him to come out at night and make yourself known to him."

She bows before disappearing down a hallway. Taylor continues walking down the street until he sees a police car. The car stops in front of Taylor.

"All units, call off search for the escaped patient. I got a visual on him." the officer says as he gets out of the car.

"Mr. Hayes, you're going to have to come with me."

"Is that trench coat dude still there?"

"No, him and the two nurses are still under investigation."

Taylor hesitantly gets into the car and they drive off to the hospital. The sun begins to rise as they get to the hospital. Taylor runs inside the hospital and trips. He feels a burning sensation on his face where the scars are. Within a few seconds, the burning stops. Taylor looks up and sees his reflection. His skin was now a normal color, his eyes were back to normal, he no longer had fangs and his scars were gone. The officer helps him back up and looks at him in shock, after seeing his transformation.

Taylor gets released from the hospital after being determined healthy after a quick examination from the lead doctor. The doctors were puzzled and took blood just to make sure. Taylor's father told him to stay home and sleep as he had been up all night. Taylor obliged and fell asleep. When he fell asleep he had a dream. All he saw was people being murdered, blood staining the walls and demons everywhere. But then all the horror stops and the murderers and demons look into the shadows in horror as the shadows darts forwards and consume them all. Taylor wakes up to his father entering the room.

"You've been asleep all day, dinner is ready. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna eat and then I'm going to go out again."

After He's done eating, Taylor leaves the house with the sun setting. As the sun dips below the horizon, he feels a burning on his face. He pulls out his phone and sees his reflection. The scars, fangs, and the rest of the vampiric features are back.

"Hmm, I wonder what else I can do."

Taylor runs to the main part of the city. He climbs up a fire escape and gets a running start before jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He jumps into the air 15 feet and is surrounded by bats that lift him higher. He looks at the top of Wayne Tower and imagines himself on top of the tower, then he turns into the swarm of bats and lands on top of the tower.

"I'm the king of Gotham!" he exclaims.

Just then he hears a swarm of bats behind him. He turns around and sees Adeline, the other vampire that was watching him the night before.

"I don't think you're the king yet. All you've done really is beat up some bullies. You can do more and you'll have to."

"Who are you?" Taylor asks.

"My name is Adeline Dumont, my father was the one that turned you."

"Well tell him thanks."

Adeline grabs his hand.

"Why don't you think him in person."

Adeline runs with Taylor and jumps off the roof. Taylor screams as he plummets down the side of the building. He closes his eyes and transforms into a swarm of bats and lands on the roof of another building.

Meanwhile, a boat docks at Gotham Harbor. A man gets off and talks to the harbormaster. The man has long brown hair but is bald on the top with a brown goatee and has a scar running down the left side of his face. He wears a white shirt with a black tie and a grey vest with a brown suit coat and pants with black shoes and black gloves.

"That's quite the inventory you have. You a museum curator or-"

"Vampire hunter." the man says.

"Are you serious? Sorry, don't mean to be impolite. Just sign here please"

The man signs the clipboard handed to him, signing "Van Helsing".

"Van Helsing? Come on buddy, can I see some ID?"

Van Helsing reluctantly hands the dockmaster his ID. It reads Konstantin Van Helsing.

"Okay then. Welcome to America Mr. Van Helsing."

"Thank you, I think I'll be at home here."

A group of vampire hunters walk off the boat laughing and joking with each other. They are all wearing leather armor with black cloaks. Van Helsing stops them.

"Now, last time we were here we were defeated. But since then the Gotham coven has disbanded, members have struck out on their own and have been killed off by the Court of Owls and some by the Sacred Order of Saint Dumas. Our mission is to kill the last vampire of the Gotham coven, Adrian Dumont. I need you all to go out and find me Dumont. If you come across any other vampire kill them too."

The hunters bow and then walk off.

"You guys are legit. This is some shit that I never expected to see in my career." the dockmaster says.

Van Helsing says nothing, but smirks and walks off.

Adeline laughs at Taylor and picks him up off the ground.

"You need to work on your landing." She says.

"Yeah, you'd think so. Where are you taking me anyway?" Taylor replies

"I am going to take you to see my father, you need to prove yourself."

"I don't have to prove myself to anybody."

Adeline strikes him with her palm and sends him flying across the roof. Taylor lunges forward to grab her but she disappears into a swarm of bats and reappears behind him and throws him into the ground.

"Then prove yourself to me at least."

"Fine! What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to stop a crime in this city as I observe you."

"Are you kidding me? That shit is dangerous!"

"Not as dangerous as you, especially not with the abilities that you have. But you're not going to scare anybody wearing a white t-shirt and basketball shorts."

Adeline takes Taylor's hand and takes him to the cathedral. When she gets there, she pulls out a chest and pulls out a brown distressed trench coat and some brown leather armor with a black steel chestplate. Taylor puts it on and turns to Adeline, stretching his arms out as if to impress her. Adeline looks down and smiles, blushing slightly. Taylor notices her blushing and puts down his arms.

"What? Does it look good?" asks Taylor.

Adeline looks up, giving him and innocent look that makes Taylor blush.

"Yeah, it does. My father would love it."

Adeline stands up and grabs Taylor's hand leaning in close to him and closing her eyes. She feels butterflies in her stomach as Taylor wraps his arms around her. The feeling was almost alien. She had never experienced affection like this with another being, let alone a human. Just then a puff of black smoke happens and Adrian Dumont appears. Adeline quickly pushes Taylor away.

"Ah, I see you brought the fledgeling, wonderful. I bet you're wondering who I am and what I want with you." says Adrian Dumont.

"Damn right. I want answers and I want them now." replies Taylor.

"Where to start? My name is Adrian Dumont, master vampire of the once great Gotham coven. We were a group of vampires consisting of over 200 members from the time of Gotham's founding until around 1899, when the Falcone and Maroni crime families took over Gotham. Our job was to keep Gotham's corrupt individuals from having too much power, but with these new crime families, we had different ideas. Some of us wanted to kill all of them, including the women and children. But my group wanted to confront the heads of the families and force them to come to an agreement. With none of us able to agree, we disbanded. Soon after, we realised that our power was meaningless. The Court of Owls sent talons to slay my group. The bloodthirsty splinter group continued their ways and caught the attention of the Sacred Order of Saint Dumas. They sent their warrior Azrael to deal with the splinter group. I fled Gotham to avoid the Talons and Azrael, but I wasn't going to do it without dealing with the splinter group. I arrived at a cave that they had occupied to keep their prisoners with the intention to kill their leader, a rival master vampire known as Damon Malek. As I confronted him the cave was stormed by an angry mob led by your great great grandfather Jedediah Hayes, who was a preacher. In the ensuing chaos, I left Malek to die and made my escape. I fled to London where 18 years ago, I fell in love with a librarian named Isabelle Frye, Adeline's mother. I would've stayed in London, but Isabelle passed away after suffering from lupus. I vowed to return to Gotham and fight crime with my daughter, but Bruce Wayne had already begun his crusade as the Batman. Even though he has done his job well, the men that rule Gotham do not fear him. I need somebody that will strike the hearts into the corrupt elite of the city, not just the low life thugs."

"I'm guessing that I'm your proxy when it comes to that?" replies Taylor, intrigued at the story that was told to him.

"Proxy denotes negativity, consider yourself my partner."

"You could've picked multiple people. Hell if Bruce Wayne is Batman, why didn't you just turn him into a vampire?"

"You come from a broken home, your father is a criminal, your mother has passed away, and your sister is distant and lives away from you. You have more to offer than Bruce Wayne. He came from a rich and powerful family and, had his mother and father not been killed that fateful night, he wouldn't be the man he is today. People like Bruce Wayne are prone to be corrupt with the money and power they hold. Men like that need somebody to fear, their worst nightmare."

Adrian Dumont extends his hand.  
"Will you join us in our crusade to purge Gotham of its corrupt, and make Gotham a city for the people?" asks Adrian.

Taylor looks at Adrian's hand, before accepting his invitation and shaking his hand.

Adeline and Taylor go out into the city once more to look for crime.

"What was that earlier?" Taylor asks Adeline.

"What was what?" Adeline replies.

"It just kinda felt like… you know."

"Oh that… I…. I don't know. You're the first person I've interacted with aside from my parents. Mostly my dad though. My mom died when I was six."

For a moment there was silence as Adeline tried to collect her thoughts. She felt like there was something there for Taylor, but she knew she had to repress it since they barely knew each other and were working as partner's in her father's crusade. Taylor felt like less of a freak around Adeline. At school the only girl that would talk to him was Harper Row. Other than that, all the girls would gossip and spread rumors about Taylor that, in turn would get him beat up. Adeline looked up at Taylor, looking him straight in the eyes. Taylor moves closer to her and takes her hand before looking back out into the city.

"What's our next move?" Taylor asks Adeline.

"We just need to wait. There's a lot going on and Batman is taking care of a lot of it." Adeline replies.

She kisses Taylor on the cheek.

"For now, I'm just glad I'm here with you."

Just then, they hear a woman screaming and they both run to the scene of the crime. When they get there, they see a woman being mugged by one of the Joker's thugs. Adeline runs forwards and shoulder tackles the thug to the ground. The thug gets back up and fires at Adeline, who dodges the shots and disarms the thug. Taylor, being distracted by the fight, fails to notice a police officer pull up behind them. The officer gets out of the car. He pulls out a baton and hits Taylor in the back, staggering him. Taylor turns around and disarms the officer of his baton and headbutts him before kicking him to the ground. Adeline picks up the thug's gun and shoots the thug in the head.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Taylor shouts at Adeline.

"There are too many criminals in this world, they need to be culled." She replies.

The officer gets back up and gets on his radio.

"We have an assault and a murder out here. Two suspects, a blonde haired adolescent female and a black haired adolescent male. The male appears to be the suspect in the alley assault case from yesterday."

Adeline approaches the officer and kicks him in the head, knocking him out. Taylor picks up the officer's baton and examines it before putting it in his pocket.

"Come on, we need to go!" Adeline says, climbing up the fire escape. Taylor follows and the two end up at Gotham Cemetery. Adeline stops next to a mausoleum and turns around to face Taylor.

"You handled yourself well back there." says Adeline.

"Thanks, cops have never really done me well. You know my history, so you know why."

Adeline walks forwards and rests her head on Taylor's chest Taylor wraps his arms around her and kisses her on top of her head. She looks up at him right into his eyes. The butterflies in her stomach return as her pupils dilate. She leans in closer and closes her eyes, feeling Taylor's breath on her. She suddenly opens her eyes and pushes Taylor away from her and turns around, just in time to catch a sharp wooden crossbow bolt flying at her. She looks at Taylor with fear in her eyes, an emotion that Taylor hadn't seen from her.

Taylor and Adeline run out of the cemetery and hide in the Gotham Royal Hotel.

"You looked scared, I didn't think you felt fear." says Taylor

"What? Of course I feel fear! I'm still half human." replies Adeline.

"Alright, alright, fair point. Who was that?"

"The order of Van Helsing."

"Wait, like Abraham Van Helsing?"

"Sort of, the order was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's book. Their current leader's name is Konstantin Van Helsing."

Taylor hears somebody walking slowly down the hallway next to them. As soon as the footsteps get close enough, Taylor turns around the corner, being met face to face with a vampire hunter. Taylor hits the vampire hunter with the baton, dazing him before kicking him through the drywall. Taylor looks down to see the baton bent out of shape. Seeing this, Adeline hands Taylor a pair of escrima sticks. Taylor walks slowly down the hall, a vampire hunter pops around the corner and fires a crossbow bolt at him. Taylor runs forward and knees the vampire hunter in the chin and hits him in the back of the head with the escrima stick, knocking him unconscious. Adeline looks around before rejoining Taylor.

"We should divide and conquer. I'll meet you at the bottom." says Adeline

"Are you sure?"

"I can handle myself. See you down there." Adeline says before she runs in the opposite direction of Taylor.

Taylor descends down a flight of stairs. As he does, three vampire hunters come up the flight of stairs and fire their crossbows at him. Taylor dodges the bolts and slides down the railing, kicking one of the hunters in the face. Taylor quickly whips around and hits both of the hunters with the escrima sticks. One of the hunters starts to get back up and Taylor slams his head into the ground. The third hunter gets back up and pulls out a silver karambit and swings it upwards towards Taylor. Taylor grabs the hunter's arm and knees him at the elbow joint before kicking him down the stairs. Taylor picks up a length of chain and wraps it around his fist to get ready for another wave of hunters as he continues to descend the stairs. As he gets to the first floor he senses the presence of several hunters beyond the door, 10 at the least. Taylor looks down and sees a floor grate. He opens it up and climbs down. Using the ventilation shaft to his advantage, he crawls under the door and under the feet of the hunters undetected. He looks up and sees the hunters all aiming their crossbows at the door that Taylor would've gone through, had he not been able to detect their presence. Taylor positions himself below the hunter in the very back and jumps out of the grate, delivering an uppercut and knocking the Hunter senseless. All the hunters then turn around to face Taylor until Adeline jumps down from the ceiling and cuts upen a hunter's neck with her kukri. Everybody freezes, unaware of what their next move should be. The hunters all look around at each other, confused. One of them nods and they all pull out iron machetes four go after Taylor and four go after Adeline. Taylor jumps backwards and throws his escrima sticks at two of the hunters, staggering them. Two of the other hunters charge forwards and swing their machetes at Taylor, who dodges one swing and catches the other in between his hands. He headbutts the hunter in front of him and punches him in the jaw with his chain wrapped fist, knocking him unconscious. He then turns around and roundhouse kicks the other hunter, knocking him unconscious as well. Adeline has an easier time dealing with her opponents. They all charge forwards at once and thrust their machetes at her as she leaps into the air and throws a hatchet into the skull of one of the hunters. She rolls forwards and picks up the dead hunter's machetes and slashes open the abdomen of one of the other hunters, before thrusting the machete through her skull. The hunter falls to the ground and the remaining two hunters going after Adeline freeze in terror. She looks at them both and hisses, baring her fangs. She lunges forward and snaps the first hunter's neck and then turns around and punches the second one through the chest. Taylor looks at her in shock, but then sees the two hunters running towards him. Taylor runs forwards and slides under one of the hunter's legs and strikes him in the groin, sending him to his knees. Taylor kicks him in the head, finishing him off. The last hunter turns around sharply and leaps into the air and then swings her machete, missing Taylor as she comes back down. Taylor kicks her back and delivers an uppercut with his chain wrapped fist, knocking her unconscious.

"You, you are totally ruthless." says Taylor.

"The hunters can't stop and won't stop until me, you and my father are dead." Adeline replies

"Well how can we stop them, Adeline?"

"The Order of Van Helsing as a whole are nomadic. If the hunters are here, the whole order is here. Which means that Konstantin Van Helsing is here. The way you kill the serpent is by cutting off the head. That's what we need to do, kill Konstantin Van Helsing and end this war."

Taylor hears sirens coming from not too far away and getting closer.

"You hear that? The GCPD is coming." Taylor says.

"You took out an officer earlier, what's wrong with a few more?" Adeline replies.

"I'm not worried about them, I'm worried they brought homeboy with them. Now come on!" Taylor says grabbing Adeline's hand and transforming into a swarm of bats and flying out of the building. They end up on top of a roof across the street and watch the police enter the hotel. Taylor hears what sounds like a cloth flowing in the wind and turns around to see a grappling hook latch itself to the edge of the building. Taylor grabs Adeline and they hide behind the rooftop access. Taylor looks around the corner and sees him standing mere feet away… the protector of Gotham himself, the dark knight; the Batman. Taylor shudders in fear and freezes.

"Taylor, are you alri-" Adeline tries to make sure that Taylor is okay, but is interrupted.

"Shhhh! Shut up!" Taylor replies, frustrated.

"I'm just asking what's wrong. What did you see?"

"You couldn't tell who that was? It's fucking Batman!"

Batman looks in Taylor's direction, well aware that they're hiding, but decides to ignore them. He jumps off the building and glides down to the hotel entrance with his cape stretched out, making him appear to have wings. Taylor had only ever heard the legends behind the dark knight, but had never seen him in person. He was much bigger than Taylor expected, standing at around 6'2. Hearing stories about how fast Batman moved, Taylor thought he was around 5'10 and less muscular than he was. Batman's muscle mass is probably what threw Taylor most off guard. On tv, Bruce Wayne looks much smaller, but the suit and the cape made him appear much bigger. But in all reality, Taylor had never encountered Bruce Wayne either. Taylor looked on as Batman talked to the police. Soon a smaller figure approaches Batman. It was his sidekick, the boy wonder, Robin. Robin looked around Taylor and Adeline's age. He wasn't very big, but had the figure of somebody who wrestled or ran track and stood about 5'5. As Taylor kept watching, he started to be able to hear them talking.

"What do you have for us Bullock?" Batman asks.

"We have 12 guys total, they look like assassins of some sort. 7 were knocked out, and four are dead. We questioned one of them and she gave us a description. You know who it was? The guy involved in the alley beatdown case,she said there was a girl involved too.." Bullock replies.

"From what I could see from the assassin you loaded into your squad car, these guys aren't members of the league of shadows."

A police officer brings one of the hunters out of the building and Batman grabs him.

"Who are you and why are you here?!" he said in a stern tone.

"Who are we? Why does it matter to you? Shouldn't you be more concerned about who killed my brethren?"

Batman slams him against a wall.

"I'm the one asking questions here. I know who killed your men, now who are you and why are you here?"

"We are the order of Van Helsing, we came here to eliminate a vampiric threat from your city."

Adeline grabs Taylor's hand.

"Come on, let's go back to my father. He needs to know about this."

Adrian Dumont already knew about the order of Van Helsing being in Gotham. He sharpened his dagger, getting ready for if they were to storm The cathedral. Sure enough, the door swings open as a hunter kicks it open and fires his crossbow at Adrian. Adrian dodges it and throws an axe into the hunter's head. Adrian jumps out the window and onto the roof, where several hunters are waiting for him. He opens up pulls a knife out of his boot and throws it at a hunter with a force that punches through the armor and causes him to fall off the roof. Dodges crossbow fire while running towards a hunter and picks him up by the throat and throws him off the roof. Adrian momentarily stops as he sees multiple hunters climb up to the roof. Before too long he was standing on the roof of the cathedral with 10 hunters. They all charge forward with their machetes drawn and point them at Adrian's throat.

"You all have no idea who you're dealing with do you?" says Adrian.

He transforms into a swarm of bats and flies behind them and draws the sword off of his back. One by one the hunters charge towards Adrian in a fowl attempt to slay the master vampire. But every attempt was in vain as each time one of them charged, they would be cut down. The last hunter alive hesitated, but charged ducking Adrian's sword as he swung it. But Adrian quickly turned around and stabbed him in the back before decapitating him. Adrian hears a crossbow go off behind him and catches the bolt, only inches from his face.

"Hello Adrian, how did London treat you?" Van Helsing says.

"Kinder than this damned place ever has not been very kind to you." Adrian Dumont replies.

"With age comes wisdom, something you should know well."

"So this is it isn't it? One of us is going to die tonight? Let's settle this like gentlemen shall we? I propose a duel, blade to blade."

Van Helsing draws a silver sword from its scabbard and points it at Adrian. Adrian gets into a combat stance and charges at Van Helsing. The men swing their swords, steel clashing against silver. Adrian ducks under Van Helsing's sword as he swings again. Adrian kicks Van Helsing into the church bell, causing it to ring out. Adrian charges at Van Helsing, the two continue to swing at each other and block each strike delivered as they descend down the bell tower. They end up on a balcony as they continue to deliver savage strikes to one another to no avail. They finally lock swords as Van Helsing attempts to parray Adrian's strike. With a quick move Adrian disarms Van Helsing, who watches helplessly as his sword plummets to the ground level. Triumphant, Adrian points his sword at Van Helsing's throat.

"You were foolish to come here, thinking you would gain fame and glory for slaying me. I won't gain anything but pleasure from your death. You killed my brothers and sisters. Now it's time you finally meet your death."

Adrian spins around and swings his sword to decapitate Van Helsing, but he is ready. Van Helsing ducks and lunges forward, drawing a silver dagger and plunging it into Adrian Dumont's heart.

"I don't expect fame, I just want to end your wretched race. I am only doing god's will." Van Helsing says as he pulls the dagger from Adrian's chest. Adrian collapses to his knees as blood gushes from the wound creating a puddle of blood which he collapses into.

It was just then that Taylor and Adeline arrive on the roof of the cathedral. Taylor winces seeing all the corpses and smelling the rotting flesh in the air.

"Oh fuck! I've smelled rotting flesh before when I've gone hunting, but this… oh god I'm gonna puke!"

"These are hunters. Van Helsing's lieutenants to be exact." Adeline says.

"But they're dead right? That probably means your dad killed Van Helsing." Taylor says.

"Father?" Adeline calls out.

"Oh no. Something is wrong." Adeline says shuddering with fear. Fear that Taylor didn't think he'd ever see from her.

She runs down the stairs ahead of Taylor with a stride of urgency. There she sees her father, barely alive in a pool of blood.

"Father!" Adeline shrieks at the top of her lungs.

She turns her father over so she could face him one last time.

"He's… still… here. Taylor... defeat him. Prove yourself…" Adrian says as his last cold breath leaves his body.

Adeline lays her head on Adrian's chest and sobs. Taylor slowly approaches and puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Adeline… I'm… I'm so sorry. I understand what it's like to lose somebody."

The duo hear the hammer of a revolver cock as Van Helsing presses the revolver to the back of Taylor's head.

"Move aside fledgling, it's not you I want. There's still hope for you. All it takes is an exorcism of a more… extreme extent. But as for you, girl. Well you have to die." Says Van Helsing as he points the revolver at Adeline.

"No… You want her, you'll have to go through me." Taylor says as he turns around and balls up his fists, hoping to display some form of intimidation.

"How cliche of you. Move aside you little bastard! I won't ask again."

Taylor punches Van Helsing in the jaw, causing him to stumble. Van Helsing looks at Taylor with anger in his eyes, clenching his teeth. He swings the revolver and hits Taylor with the back end of it. Van Helsing points the revolver at Adeline again and just as he was about to pull the trigger, Taylor intervenes and tries to wrestle the revolver from Van Helsing's grasp from behind. The gun goes off into the roof of the cathedral, echoing throughout the whole building and causing the bats roosting in the ceiling to flee to the upper level where Taylor continues to wrestle with Van Helsing. The bats fly around Van Helsing, disorienting him. Taylor releases Van Helsing from his grasp and delivers a roundhouse kick to his head, followed up by a corkscrew punch to the chin. Van Helsing regains his footing and rubs his jaw as blood drips from his mouth.

"You're quite the skilled fighter lad. But if you want to truly defeat me, you'll have to kill me." Van Helsing says.

"And if I don't?" Taylor replies snarkily.

"Then I will find out where you live and I will kill everybody you love."

Van Helsing stretches out his arms.

"So do what you must, or get out of my way."

Taylor runs forward yelling with anger as he delivers a savage, crushing kick to Van Helsing's face, knocking him to the ground and causing him to bleed from his temple. Van Helsing gets up to a knee and Taylor wastes no time, grabbing the back of his head and delivering a knee to his face. Van Helsing laughs in amusement while also sounding like he was in great pain.

"I hope you've had enough. Give up, because I won't kill you. If you don't I'll break bones." Taylor says in a stern tone that could arguably rival Batman's.

"Really? What happens after you break my bones? I am god's divine wrath! I fear nothing!" Van Helsing says as he gets back to his feet, blood dripping down every inch of his face.

"You don't understand do you? After I'm not just any creature of the night. I am your greatest fears, I am your boogie man, I am your nightmare."

"Then…. Show me…"

Taylor yells savagely, anger conveyed within every soundwave. He delivers crushing punches with a force similar to being hit with a sledgehammer, to Van Helsing's ribs causing them to break with a sound like a tree branch snapping, a punch to his chest, and finally, the cheek bone. Van Helsing falls to his knees, laughing.

Adeline gets back to her feet after mourning for her father.

"Don't you get it? He wants you to beat him! Because to him that proves that you are a monster and will only give him an excuse to kill you!" she says.

Van Helsing slowly gets to his feet and cracks his back.

"See lad? She has it figured out. But what are you going to do abou-"

Van Helsing is interrupted as Adeline quickly pulls out her kukri and slashes him through the side of the neck, causing blood to gush and squirt from his artery.

"Adeline, what the fuck?!"

Not finished, she swings the kukri another time, slashing the same place on the other side of his neck. Losing consciousness from the rapid loss of blood, Van Helsing falls to his knees. This gives Adeline all she needed. A clear shot to the back of the neck which she takes, and cleaves Van Helsing's head from his body. Van Helsing's head flies off the balcony and onto the empty pews below. Taylor looks on in shock, He can feel his stomach turn at the sight of the gruesome kill. He can't hold it in any longer and looks over the edge of the balcony where he vomits.

"I'm… I'm sorry Taylor. You have to understand, my dad was the only thing I had left. I didn't feel like I had a choice."

Taylor regains his composure and faces Adeline, though he is woozy.

"No, I get it. You aren't my dad. Who you know… kills for money."

Before Adeline can say another word, she hears the doors to the cathedral open. They both look down to see two GCPD officers enter.

"God, did you smell that when we walked in? Everything is looking clear so far. Hold on, I'm seeing blood." Says one of the officers.

The other officer turns around the corner to see Van Helsing's head resting on a pew.

"Oh god! Dispatch, we need somebody here quick, we got a gruesome homicide!"

Taylor grabs Adeline's hand and they flee. They decide to rest in an alley after running a few blocks away from the church as a downpour of rain begins and thunder crashes.

"Did you see the GCPD's homeboy at all when we left?" Taylor asks while trying to catch his breath.

"Who IS the GCPD's homeboy?" Adeline replies, also short of breath.

"Batman, who else would it be? Did you see him when we left?"

"No. But after that stunt I just pulled, I wouldn't be surprised if he did show up soon."

Taylor looks up, making eye contact with Adeline. He watches as her blue eyes dilate. She slowly wraps her arms around Taylor's neck. Taylor wraps his arms around Adeline's thin waist and gently brings her closer to him. Adeline feels chills as goosebumps begin to form on her arms and the hair on the back of her neck stands on end. Taylor has the same feeling with butterflies in his stomach so intense it almost makes it hard to focus. Adeline goes in slowly before locking lips with Taylor. Taylor moves to her cheek and kisses Adeline down her neck. Taylor bites down on her neck gently, but forgets about his fangs as they sink into Adeline's flesh. Adeline winces and draws back feeling the puncture wounds as blood trickles down her neck.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry, you okay?" Taylor asks.

"Yeah, just keep going." Adeline replies quickly.

Adeline continues kissing Taylor ash she jumps up, wrapping her legs around his waist. Never in her life did she think she would ever feel such passion and emotion, let alone with a mortal. But it ended up being everything and more than she hoped.

Police cars pull into the cathedral as detectives tape off the crime scene. The lead detective, Harvey Bullock looks on while smoking his pipe. He hears the sound of a cape flapping in the wind and turns around to see the caped crusader standing before him.

"God damn it! You get me every time." Harvey says after being startled by Batman's sudden appearance.

"Sorry about that Harvey. What happened here?" The Dark Knight asks.

"It looks like those same guys from the hotel. This time it's different though. They're ALL dead." Harvey replies.

"This has gone on long enough, me and Robin will make this our number one priority."

"Batman, are you sure we can't handle this? Y'know, put an APB on this guy? What about the whole Two-Face deal with Paul Sloane? Dent is still at large."

"I promise I'll handle it, but there have been 15 deaths linked to this suspect in one night. Dent can wait."

Harvey looks at the ground and shakes his head.

"Whatever you say, you're basically Gordon's boss anyways." Harvey says as he looks up to see that Batman has disappeared.

On a rooftop nearby, Batman regroups with the boy wonder.

"What's the play Bruce?" Robin asks.

"We're putting Two-Face on hold. There's some murders I've been looking into tonight that require immediate attention." Batman replies.

"That bad?"

"15 people were killed just tonight, Jason."

"I'm guessing we're going to have to take care of it tomorrow night then."

"Yeah. The sun will be up in an hour, so there's no use in going after them tonight. But first thing after the sun sets, we're going after them."

Taylor looks at Adeline intently as he rests his forehead against hers. The sun begins to peek over the horizon and both Adeline and Taylor feel a burning sensation, with Taylor feeling it on his face where his scars were and Adeline feeling it on her neck, where Taylor bit her.

"Fuck! I forgot about the sun!" yells Adeline.

"Will it actually kill you?" replies Taylor.

"Normally, but by now I would've been dust. Wait a minute! I just remembered something my father told me. Pure blood vampires die in sunlight, but those who are turned by an open wound become normal in sunlight."

Adeline quickly turns the corner and looks into a shop window. She jumps back after seeing her own reflection for the first time. She stands still looking at her reflection for a few minutes. As a tear streams down her cheek, she closes her eyes.

"My father always said I looked like mother. He's right. Sometimes I think of all the things humans get to enjoy. The sun's warmth, being able to admire themselves in the mirror, simple things like garlic even. I guess that even though I'm a pure blood, your bite caused me to become human in the sunlight."

"I guess you really have missed out on a lot. Hey, I got to go to school in a few hours. See you tonight? Maybe we can do more crime fighting stuff?"

"Sure. See you later." Adeline says, kissing Taylor before he departs.

Upon the sun setting, Taylor sneaks out the window of his house. He puts on the clothes and armor that Adeline gave him and goes to the Cathedral to meet up with Adeline. He sneaks in through the bell tower, where he sees her sitting on the ground with her head buried into her knees. Taylor approaches and puts his hand on her back and sits down next to her.

"How you holding up hun?" He asks.

"Okay. I just got done burning my father's body, it's hard. I was still pretty little when my mother died, but I still had him. Now all I have is you." she replies, leaning against Taylor.

"Yeah, I lost my mother, my dad's never really around, my sister lives with my grandparents. I guess all I really have is you as well. How about we beat up some bad guys to take our minds off things?"

Adeline looks at Taylor and smiles.

"Why not? What's the worst that can happen?"

Taylor and Adeline leave the cathedral in search of crime in the pouring rain. They come to a rooftop where they can see Gotham for miles.

"See this? All this is ours!" Taylor says.

"Evildoers beware of Nightmare and the Black Dragon!" Adeline says laughing.

"How long did it take you to come up with those names?"

"I came up with yours after your monologue to Van Helsing last night, and I based mine off of Dracula. You know, Dracula means 'The Dragon' right?"

"You learn something new everyday." Taylor says, shrugging.

He hears a blade spinning through the air, before it strikes his hand. Taylor draws his hand back in pain. He looks at Adeline, who has a look of fear in her eyes. As he looks down at his hand he sees there, sticking out of the back of his hand is a bat shaped shuriken embedded into his hand, all covered in his blood.

"You say this city is yours, you must not have ever seen my signal in the sky." a deep voice says behind him.

Taylor quickly turns around and pulls the batarang out of his hand. There he stood face to face with the caped crusader with the boy wonder behind him.

"Oh….. shit…." Taylor mutters under his breath.

Batman lunges forward and hits Taylor with a shattering blow to the jaw, causing him to spit blood from the impact. Taylor's vision goes blurry as the hit disorients him. Adeline runs towards Batman, only to be hit by Robin's staff.

"I'll take her if you take him." Says Robin.

As Robin and Adeline continue to trade blows, Batman proceeds to thrash Taylor, landing blow after blow on Taylor. Batman finally slams Taylor to the ground and plants his boot against Taylor's skull.

"You killed all those men, but you didn't put up much of a fight against me."

"You think this is all I got?" Replies Taylor as he transforms into a swarm of bats and disappears. When he reappears, he lands a dropkick to Batman's back, causing him to stagger forward, but not fall. Batman quickly turns around and hits Taylor across the jaw again. Batman grabs Taylor by the collar of his trench coat and lifts him two inches off the ground.

"Tell me kid, why did you kill those men? And why did you cripple those other kids?" Batman asks enraged.

"You think I'd kill someone? Never in my life would I kill somebody! Those kids had it coming though, they beat on me from the time I was in 7th grade. You know how it feels to feel empty inside don't you? To lose hope? That's how I feel every fucking day of my life? I lost somebody just like you did god damn it!" Says Taylor as a tear streams down his face.

"You have no idea who I am…"

Gotham City, 25 years ago.

Thomas and Martha Wayne are walking down an alley next to the Monarch Theater with their 10 year old son Bruce Wayne. The trio had just finished a screening of Zorro. As they walk down the alleyway, they are confronted by a man who pulls a .38 revolver on them.

"Hand over the pearls!" The man orders.

Thomas stands in front of Martha and attempts to snag the gun away from the attacker, but is shot. Martha begins screaming in terror after seeing her husband killed before her eyes. In a panic, the attacker shoots Martha in the chest and snags her pearl necklace causing it to break. Bruce watches on in silence as the Pearl's bounce against the pavement. The attacker aims his gun at Bruce, but runs off instead of killing the child. Bruce drops to his knees, too shocked to make a sound.

Adeline throws Robin against the rooftop access unconscious and turns around to face Batman.

"He didn't kill them, I did. They were a group of vampire hunters called the order of Van Helsing. If I didn't kill them, they would've killed us."

Bruce released Taylor.

"So you just dragged him into this?" He asks Adeline.

"I forced nothing on him. He agreed to join me and my father in a crusade to stop crime in this city, though he has refused to kill anybody." she replies.

"But those guys that I crippled? They were assholes! The night all of that went down they tried to drown me in a swimming pool. I could've taken them, but I was outnumbered. I was too scared. I only took them on later because I had more strength than ever. I wanted them to never hurt me again. Don't you get it?!" Taylor says as tears continue to stream down his face.

"I understand the pain that you're in Nightmare. And I'll help you under one condition. The girl comes with us." Batman says as he lets go of Taylor.

"Please, she's all I have. You can't do this." Taylor pleads.

"I'm sorry, too many people have died within the last two nights." Batman says as he begins to walk towards Adeline.

"Master Bruce, you may want to stop whatever you might be doing at the moment. We have an urgent situation in the east end." Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's loyal butler, says through his earpiece.

Adeline readies herself to do combat with the dark knight, but is confused as Batman stops to respond to Alfred's call.

"What's the situation?" Batman asks.

"Scarecrow and a bunch of would be trick-or-treaters are using fear toxin emitted through parade balloons to attack civilians in the east end. What is your current status?" Alfred asks

"I was just wrapping up the Van Helsing case. I'll be there soon. Robin, can you stand?"

Robin gets up to his knee and gives a thumbs up and spits blood out of his mouth.

"I'm going to let you two help. But if I do, nobody dies. Got it?" Batman says assertively.

"If nobody dies, your city won't get better. These criminals need to be purged in order for your city to heal." Adeline replies.

"Adeline, please. You're all I have and I don't want to lose you. We play by their rules." Taylor says, pleading with Adeline.

"So what's the situation?"

"Scarecrow and his henchmen are attacking the east end with fear toxin, he's using parade balloons so I'm going to take care of them first to get rid of the threat. Robin, you, Nightmare and Adeline are going to take out his henchmen. From there we can track down Scarecrow and take him down. I'll see all of you there." Batman says before jumping off the building and into the cockpit of the oncoming Batwing as Taylor looks on in amazement.

"There you go, you get to see the badass in action." Robin says.

"Wait, so if he's Bruce Wayne, who are you?" Adeline asks.

Robin freezes for a moment in surprise. Batman had told him that nobody knew his identity except Alfred. Even their closest ally, James Gordon knew who he was. That being said, he figured he would just introduce himself to the duo.

"My name is Jason Todd, and you two?"

"I am Adeline Dumont, daughter of Adrian Dumont, leader of the Gotham coven." says Adeline.

"And I am… Taylor Hayes, high school student and son of… let's not get into it." Says Taylor.

"Well now that we've introduced myself, let's go. We have no time to lose!" says Robin.

The trio of heroes leap across the rooftops in true comic book fashion until they come to an alleyway where the Batmobile is waiting for them. Robin hops into the driver's seat while Adeline and Taylor hop in the back. The Batmobile roars to life as Robin turns the key. Taylor looks around in awe. Never in his life did he think that he would be right here, in the Batmobile with the boy wonder.

"Don't look too surprised hotshot." says Robin.

Before too long they reach the site of the attack where Scarecrow's crew are wreaking havoc and terrorizing civilians. Robin hands Taylor and Adeline a gas mask and they put it on before exiting the Batmobile. A group of henchmen looting a store see the trio and walk towards them with baseball bats and chains in their hands. Robin runs forwards and hits the first henchman with his bo staff, knocking him to the ground while Taylor and Adeline run forwards and deliver devastating blows to the other two, knocking them to the ground with brutal force. The trio continues to travel through the fear toxin taking out henchmen by brutal but nonlethal means. Just when they start finishing up, Batman flies overhead and grabs the balloons with a hook at the front of the batwing and releases them into the clouds.

"Robin, I've just sent you some coordinates. This is where Scarecrow was last seen, I need you and our allies to meet me there."

"Got it. Listen up, I just got some coordinates from Batman. Let's go and end this madness."

Later, all of our caped crusaders arrive at an abandoned facility where Scarecrow is in hiding. As they enter a trap door falls down, separating Batman and Robin from Taylor and Adeline. Fear toxin begins to flood the room that Taylor and Adeline are trapped in. All they can do is stand there helplessly as their fears overcome them. Adeline has a vision where she is surrounded by flames. She sees vampires being killed by humans and then she hears a familiar voice, that of one close to her while not her father. "Remember what you have to do Adeline." it says as all the humans all look in the same direction as their flesh begins to rot. They all turn and shamble towards Adeline as she looks on in terror. She sees a shadow with glowing red eyes behind all the zombified humans. "I know you love him, but his race is evil. We are superior. All humans must die, so make him whole!".

"No!" Adeline screams in Scarecrow's face, believing him to be the shadow.

While both Taylor and Adeline where going through their hallucinations, Scarecrow made his way to the room to observe their terror. He isn't a tall man, but he also isn't short by any means standing at 5'11. He also isn't very big, not malnourished, but without much muscle mass. He wears a brown cloak with a green checkered flannel shirt underneath it with a mask made of burlap and a noose around his neck, along with fingerless gloves and old worn brown boots.

"Hmm, I'm not sure what it is you fear. Perhaps some childhood trauma? Don't worry my dear, it is very common." Scarecrow says in a low ominous voice.

He then walks over to Taylor to observe him.

Taylor is having a very different hallucination. He sees an open field covered in a dense fog. Unsure of what to do, he walks forwards and comes to a tombstone that reads "Eliza Hayes: Loving Mother. Taken too soon." Taylor puts his hand on the tombstone before the ground gives way and he falls into the ground. He lands on top of a casket with his mother's rotting face exposed. All of a sudden, his mother bursts to life and breaks free of the casket grabbing Taylor by the throat.

"Why Taylor? Why didn't you save me?" she asks in agony as maggots crawl out of her eye socket.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to do something but I couldn't I was too scared." Taylor says as he starts to cry.

"Join me Taylor, and we can be a happy family again." his mother says as spiders crawl out of her mouth.

"Just let me…. Go!" Taylor yells as he grabs his mother and throws her into the shadows, in reality throwing Scarecrow across the room.

Scarecrow gets up and twists a valve to shut off the gas.

"Your fear must lie in some form of regret. The loss of a loved one yes? I pity you, I really do." Scarecrow says as he grabs a scythe off of his desk. In one quick motion, he slices open Taylor's throat open. Blood sprays all over Scarecrow's face as Taylor falls to the floor drained of his blood.

"You don't have to worry about fear anymore child." Scarecrow says looking down at Taylor's lifeless body.

Then he notices something from Taylor's gaping mouth. His two pointed fangs.

"This can't be true, are you really…"

Scarecrow begins to back away in terror as Taylor's wound begins to close back up. Taylor flips over on his stomach and gets up to a knee. The hallucination had ended as Taylor had been drained of his blood, which was carrying the toxin.

"Jonathan Crane, AKA the Scarecrow. Here you are, in the flesh. For somebody that thrives in the fear of others, your quite the coward." Taylor says.

Scarecrow backs away in fear of all the things Taylor could do to him.

"And before you ask again yes, I am a… vampire."

Taylor grabs him by the end of the noose and delivers a powerful strike, causing Scarecrow to bleed from the mouth. He then pulls Scarecrow towards him with the noose and headbutts him, sending him to the ground. Scarecrow tries to crawl away, but Taylor plants him to the ground with his boot.

"Wha- what are you going to do to me?" Scarecrow asks in a panicked voice.

"I don't know, probably drink your blood for starters. What do you think?" Taylor says.

"Please god no!"

"Alright, alright. How about this? You give me the antidote and maybe I won't suck the life out of ya? How does that sound?"

"Yes, yes! The antidote!" Scarecrow says, frantically rummaging around in his pockets for the syringe with the antidote for his fear toxin.

"Here, take it!" Scarecrow says, handing the syringe to Taylor.

"Thanks for your cooperation."

Taylor walks towards Adeline and sticks the syringe in her neck, injecting her with the antidote. Adeline gasps and falls into Taylor's arms as her pupils dilate back to normal. Adeline quickly gets back up and grabs Scarecrow's scythe and presses it against his throat. Scarecrow gulps and looks up at her with his eyes wide and his heart racing.

"Please…." Scarecrow pleads.

"Adeline, don't! Too many people have died tonight, he doesn't have to as well." Taylor says, trying to stop Adeline.

"You're soft Taylor, what are you going to do? Lock him up? What will he do when he gets out?" Adeline asks, enraged.

"After what I'm going to do to him, hopefully he'll hide." Taylor says.

Taylor approaches and grabs Scarecrow, while also grabbing a syringe out of his cloak and stabbing him in the neck, injecting the whole vial into his bloodstream.

"Side note, if you see me again call me Nightmare. Because I'll be yours." Scarecrow collapses and his pupils expand. His hallucination has begun. Scarecrow looks up and sees Taylor with blood dripping from his mouth, his eyes begin to glow yellow as bats begin to swarm from his body towards Scarecrow. He lets out a scream of terror and tries to run away, opening the trap door and right into Batman and Robin's fist, knocking him out. Batman puts cuffs on Scarecrow and heads outside as he hands him off to the GCPD.

"I have to say, after we got seperated I got a little worried. I didn't know if you could hold it together Adeline."

"I almost did kill him. But keep in mind, I didn't keep him alive for you. I did it for Taylor."

"I see. As you are all aware, Joker escaped from Arkham last week. I have an update at the batcave. I'll see you all around. Robin, I want you to finish your patrol around coventry. After you're done, meet me back at the cave."

"Sounds good. Hey Taylor, Adeline. Same time tomorrow?"

"Of course, see you tomorrow Jason." says Adeline.

"Yeah, see ya later bro." Says Taylor as he walks off with Adeline hand in hand.

Taylor walks out of a coffee shop with two coffees, one for him and one for Adeline.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind, wanna talk about it?" Taylor asks as he hands Adeline her coffee and sits down next to her.

"Yeah. I don't think I can stay in the cathedral anymore. I don't know where I should go."  
"You've seen my property haven't you? It's huge, there's even an abandoned house from the colonial days there. If you want to you can stay there and I can bring you anything you like. How does that sound?"

"It sounds lovely, I… I don't know what else to say. We haven't known each other very long, but I feel like that doesn't even matter. Don't you feel like this was just meant to happen?" She asks as she leans her head on Taylor's shoulder and looks into his eyes.

"Why didn't you kill Scarecrow?" Taylor asks.

"I did it because even though I know how to defeat Bruce, I didn't want to create a possible rift between us." Adeline replies.

Taylor brushes his hand on Adeline's cheek and kisses her while holding her close. Time seemed to stand still and for the two of them it felt like nothing in the world could stop them.

Robin wasn't in the same position. He dropped into an alley to make sure there were no muggings or drug deals going on when he heard an all to familiar noise… laughter. Not just any laughter, maniacal, psychotic, bone chilling laughter. Right before Robin's eyes, a familiar man walks out from the shadows. He is a skinny man standing at 5'8. He wears a purple trench coat with an orange vest, green shirt and purple tie, with purple pants and black fingerless gloves. He has long green hair and pale white skin. With red lips curled into a twisted smile and black around his eyes.

"I don't think the introduction is necessary do you?"

"Joker… what are you up to?"

"Oh, I've been whipping up quite the plan for old batsy. And you hold quite a big role in it!"

Robin is hit from behind with a crowbar, knocking him unconscious. The last thing he sees is Joker walking towards him.

"Don't worry sunny, uncle Joker is going to take good care of you!"


End file.
